tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post6485708789000923250..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Eudora Welty is difficult, Poul Anderson is easyAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-75415591960118671262021-06-08T11:02:24.479-05:002021-06-08T11:02:24.479-05:00It was a case of new skills and knowledge meeting ...It was a case of new skills and knowledge meeting the right book. And it is such a beautiful book. I need to read it again, too.<br /><br />I agree with your short history of the field of English. There are other, older branches, like philology, and newer ones like book history, but the "interpretation" side is historically Modernist.<br /><br />I was planning to include at least a bit of Anderson's prose. But I couldn't find anything I liked so much on its own. The prose is good. I am not complaining. There is some funny stuff where the medieval mentality meets science - well, science fiction. But the prose is pretty simple.<br /><br />It is true that any book that makes me too anxious, that I feel will vanish, I will keep. And on the other hand, I imaginatively share the pleasure of the young person who finds <i>The Martian Chronicles</i> and <i>The High Crusade</i> at the library book sale.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-53537058876210225772021-06-08T08:27:42.982-05:002021-06-08T08:27:42.982-05:00"it certainly taught me that finding the patt..."it certainly taught me that finding the patterns behind the surface is worthwhile" - Interesting that Welty was your source for this. I had to go back through my index because I couldn't remember if I'd read any Welty. Apparently not. A somewhat cynical take on English as a teaching / scholarly discipline is that it takes hold around the era of Modernism precisely because those books *need* explaining - or at any rate, are often inscrutable on first reading. They are good for close reading in ways that (for instance) a lot of genre fiction isn't (one reason for approaching genre fiction through more 'cultural studies' / social context lenses). <br /><br />Figuring out which books will be easy to find again is a good way to sort out the discards.Rohan Maitzenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12111722115617352412noreply@blogger.com